Why do I keep waking up in the middle of the night?

Last updated on September 14, 2020

Question:

Hello,

For some reason, I can’t fully get a good sleep at night. I keep waking up in the middle of the night almost every night and it’s getting annoying. Do you know what’s causing this issue? And can you give me some tips or exercises to prevent it?

I’m turning 16 soon. I think I’m halfway through stage 4 but still haven’t seen any growth in height yet, why’s that? I see hairs at the corner of my upper lip and near ears, but they’re not across my face yet. Don’t facial hair start growing at 4.5? I know I’m growing a beard because almost everyone in my family has one. Sorry, I’m just really curious as to when because some guys in my class have more facial hair than I do. I just want to know when I’m going to start growing mine.

Answer:

It is a known phenomenon that teenager’s sleep schedules shift just like a person experiencing jet lag. It is due to the changing hormones in your body. There is no perfect solution to it, but getting a more fixed schedule does help. Most people set an alarm for the time they need to wake up by, but their bedtime remains variable and it doesn’t match the amount of sleep they need.

First, you need to know about how much sleep you really need. The best way is to have a week when you go to bed at the same time, but you don’t have anything to wake you up. The first few nights you’ll probably catch up on lost sleep, but toward the end, you will see that you tend to wake up at roughly the same time.

Along with this, make a rule for yourself that when you wake up in the morning, you get up. If you have a habit of falling back to sleep, then you end up getting too much sleep and you wake up in the middle of the night, which keeps the total sleep time within your particular needs.

Once you get the hang of the number of hours you need, then go to bed so that you’ll wake up 30 minutes before your alarm goes off in the morning. When you wake up, get up. If you are extra sleepy on one day, at least your alarm will keep you from oversleeping.

Another cause for interrupted sleep is if you are experiencing a wet dream. Some guys are unable to sleep through a wet dream because it involves moving in your sleep. This wakes up some guys. Thus, if you wake up with a huge erection each night, you might want to consider masturbating to relieve the pressure of needing to ejaculate.

Since you are seeing sideburns forming, you have started to develop facial hair. Next, you’ll see hair around your chin and scattered fine hairs getting really long on your cheeks. Over time this will fill in. Most guys can’t grow a full beard until after they’ve passed stage 5 by a few years.